Bobberman
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Blight has destroyed 70% of my tomatoes.

I have several gardens but my main garden where I have about 60 tomato plants have mostly died. The bad thing is I had some 3/4 pound tomatoes that are on dead plants now with no green leaves at all! Its a shame because I would have at least 60 days yet of great tomatoes. I had at least a dozen varieties and most are gone. My other smaller gardens are not as bad but have some blight. Even my green tomatoes that are 3/4 pound have ripened but the ones left are done with no green leaves. All that work!

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rainbowgardener
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That is really sad and discouraging! :( So sorry!

Do you know if it was early blight or late blight? I'm not sure, but I believe late blight is more virulent and kills plants quicker.

Either way there is at least a couple weeks, I think, between when symptoms first appear and when you have a dead plant. Did you try to do anything in that time to save them?

It is easier to prevent fungal diseases than cure them, and fungicides work better preventatively.

Now that this has happened, you need to avoid planting tomatoes or potatoes in those beds for a few years, if at all possible. The disease spores will be in the soil.

Bobberman
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Ya I cut the bottom dead branches a month ago but it kept moving up. My indigo rose was loaded with 2 inch tomatoes and a few ripened from a purple to a red on the bottom and purple on the top really pretty and a good taste. The other 50 tomatoes on the plant will probably die. Even my hybrids are dead. A few of the cherry are still half alive at the tops! Early girl produced the best but are done also!

Juliuskitty
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Late blight is so much more virulent, due to the many billions of spores it produces in a short time. It can take a garden completely down in 2 days in the right humid rainy conditions. The only preventive antifungal is not an organic one. This disease is really bad. I am so sorry for your getting this, if that is what you have.
Early blight is much less invasive, and you can control the outcome, can use effective organic preventives, and combatants, and if you cut the leaves off and bag them right away, and clean your cutting tool with alcohol between each plant, you can still get a nice harvest. Preventives work well here, and also for grey mold and septoria.
Have you identified your pathogen(s)?

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Lindsaylew82
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Blight doesn't usually kill off like that here. Wilts will run through a plant in 2 days, though.

meshmouse
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First of all, I am in no way an expert in tomato diseases (but I hope to become one).

I can't tell you what the blight or fungus or disease is that occurs in my neighborhood, but it is prevelant. It appears at the base of the plant, generally the leaves at the tips of branches start to yellow, then brown and die. Then it moves inwards and upwards.

Last year I had about a dozen or so tomato plants in 5 gal bucket containers in my yard. There were two (better boys, I believe) right next to each other in a remote location (about 30 ft away from the others). While the blight (generically termed) had effected the main group of plants, it had not yet affected these two.

I applied an inch or so of compost (which was mostly worm castings) to one and not the other. I was looking for effects of fertilization. Within a month or so, the one without the worm castings had the 'blight' while the one with, did not.

I also have a small (8 x 10) plot in a nearby community garden. Just as in all the rest of the small plots (about 25), those of us who attempted to grow tomatos experienced the same blight damage.

This spring, I opened two 3 x 16 ft beds in my yard. Both were topped with a good inch or so of (cold composted) worm castings/compost. Of the numerous tomato volunteers that arose I allowed two in one bed and one in the other, to grow.

The container tomatos 15 ft away all have the blight. Yet, not one of the 3 volunteers has so much as an injured leaf. It is remarkable.

That is my experience.

Does anyone have a good resource (with clear pictures) that describes the various diseases that effect tomato plants?

Thank you.

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applestar
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They are posted in this sticky thread at the top of the Tomato forum:
Subject: Cornell.edu and other Tomato Diagnostic links

meshmouse
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applestar - once again, thank you.

sorry to be such a dummy, but how do I access 'sticky threads'?

Is it that page icon with the red banner hanging down next to the question/thread? I've never dared/thought to click it.

imafan26
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I don't grow so many tomatoes and I have them in cages so they are farther apart. If one looks like it is getting blight I can pull it before it gets to the others. But sorry to hear that about your tomatoes. You can probably save some of the green tomatoes and ripen them off the vine or make fried green tomatoes.

Bobberman
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I do have two other gardens with a few tomatoes that only have a little blight! I have a 50 foot row of yellow beans that are ready to pick! I also have a dozen tomatoes on black plastic that are fair.

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JC's Garden
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Location: Moultrie, GA Planting Zone 8, Sunset Zone 31

As Bill said, "I feel your pain".

I lost over 75% of mine this year to a combination of Southern Blight and Septoria wilt. All I have left is 35 plants. Super Sioux and Cherokee Purple were complete losses. I didn't lose any Amana Oranges or Mrs. Tucker's Grapes and only lost 2 Brandywine Pinks. The sad part is, I have no unaffected area to plant tomatoes in next year.

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rainbowgardener
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Septoria leaf spot is not a wilt disease.

If you have to plant tomatoes back where there has been disease this year, consider doing a soil drench with activated compost tea or diluted milk in the fall and in the spring before you plant. Then next year work hard at the prevention - mulch well, treat the leaves with organic fungicides every couple weeks from the beginning, not waiting until you see any signs of disease.

Bobberman
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Next year I will go with more raised beds for tomatoes in unblighted areas!

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JC's Garden
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Location: Moultrie, GA Planting Zone 8, Sunset Zone 31

rainbowgardener wrote:Septoria leaf spot is not a wilt disease.
I got in a hurry. I've got too many irons in the fire.
What I believe was Verticillium wilt accounted for better than 50% of my losses. All my remaining plants have septoria to some degree.



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